Consultant performs world first brain operation under local anaesthetic

One of our consultants at BMI The Priory and Edgbaston Hospitals has performed a world’s first operation to reduce the size of a man’s pituitary tumour under local anaesthetic.

Birmingham based Consultant ENT and Skull Base Surgeon, Mr Shahzada Ahmed led the team who performed the procedure on an 86-year- old patient in a bid to restore his sight. The patient was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for the emergency operation following a sudden complete loss of sight in July 2017.

Mr Peter Bucknall, who had a tumour which had gradually caused his vision to deteriorate over time, was unable to undergo a general anaesthetic due to other health problems, therefore the clinical team had discussed the possibility of operating under local anaesthetic to ‘debulk’ the mass and take the pressure off the eye nerves.

Mr Bucknall, had lived with large tumour for six years and had, until recently, managed with surveillance, retaining some sight in his right eye whilst going blind in his left eye. He had experienced a symptomatic worsening of vision in his right eye, which had massively affected his independence and quality of life.

Although it is still early days, Mr Bucknall’s clinical team are hopeful he will get some useful vision back post operatively.

Mr Shahz Ahmed said, “At this stage Mr Bucknall can’t see anything but his post-op MRI scans are extremely encouraging with 85% of the previous large pituitary tumour having been removed and the pressure taken off the nerves to the eyes. We’re hopeful that the debulking of the tumour and decompression of the optic apparatus will lead to some return in his vision and quality of life.”